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T O P I C R E V I E W

thump

Neil, Gene, and Jack... NASA Image of the Day:

Observing the Future of Spaceflight

Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong and Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan toured one of the Altair mock-ups at NASA's Johnson Space Center on Dec. 9, 2008. The Altair lunar lander will take human beings to the surface of the moon for the first time since Apollo and is part of NASA's Constellation Program. Armstrong and Cernan are looking at the concepts for the living quarters inside Altair. In the background are Wayne Ottinger, who worked on the Apollo lunar lander training vehicle, and Jack Schmitt, Apollo 17 lunar module pilot.

The three veteran astronauts visited Johnson and talked with the Altair lunar lander team about design concepts.

Apollo Redux

That is an awesome picture.

The first man, and the last man (Schmitt, because he came out after Cernan or Cernan because he followed Schmitt up) LOL the debate continues...

Thanks for posting it. It's a gem.

Robert Pearlman

Additional photos from the tour, courtesy a reader:

(Yes, that's Apollo 16 commander John Young.)

Blackarrow

Together in one room: three of only four men alive today who can tell you what it's like to land a spacecraft on another world.

ringo67

What I wouldn't give to have been in that room with a pen and a piece of paper.

Or if I could just shake their hands.

Sigh.

skye12

Three of only four men alive today?...

Last pic shows Young, so thats four, but Aldrin, Bean, Mitchell and Scott are still alive. So that's four of the eight men still alive.

Robert Pearlman

I think Geoffrey (Blackarrow) was referring to Apollo commanders, as their hands were at the controls for the landings, although you are correct, the LM pilots are certainly capable of relaying the same experience. (And by the way, you forgot Charlie Duke.)

skye12

Yes, my apologies to General Duke.

kr4mula

Any word on comments these esteemed gentlemen made? Young in particular had strong opinions about the shortcomings of the first LM designs.

Cheers,

Kevin

Dave Clow

These photos remind me how luck we are to be around to see this.

Delta7

quote:Originally posted by kr4mula:Young in particular had strong opinions about the shortcomings of the first LM designs.

A memo is forthcoming, I'm sure!

Blackarrow

quote:Originally posted by skye12:Three of only four men alive today?

Absolutely no disrespect to the lunar module pilots but it was the commanders who actually landed the vehicles and there are only four of them left.

divemaster

John Young appears to be analyzing which direction the door opens.

Delta7

"Hey Neil, unless they put some landing gear on that thing, that's gonna be an even smaller step than the one you made!"

ejectr

They're darn lucky to have these experienced moon landers opinions after waiting for 36 years to make up their minds.

I'm working on getting more details for (hopefully) an article sometime in January, but according to NASA public affairs, "they spent a lot of time talking about how much bigger and taller Altair will be as compared to Apollo, and how that will affect the piloting and landing of the spacecraft on the moon. They also spoke about that various landing sites we will be targeting."

Sort of related: back in the '90s, the Crew Systems people talked formally with the Apollo moonwalkers about their experiences actually walking on the moon, with an eye for how to design future lunar suits. The report is publicly available as I recall. An interesting read, but perhaps not quite as riveting as one might hope.

Cheers,

Kevin

Robert Pearlman

"This Week @ NASA" includes a short clip of the Apollo astronauts during their Altair tour (fast forward to 1:10).